New Line Hires Ericson Core to Ride the Conrail

The story of Eddie Mongon is perfect for the movies; he spent 10 years robbing trains with high-tech gadgets and creative street smarts. Leading a gang with the catchy name of The Conrail Boyz, Mongon became known as a real-life Robin Hood, a man who lavished the proceeds of his robberies onto his impoverished neighborhood in Hoboken, New Jersey. New Line had already purchased the rights in 2004, but a new announcement in Variety reports that they have now signed writer-director Ericson Core (Invincible) to direct Conrail, the life story of the "benevolent" career criminal.

The movie, which is being marketed as half coming-of-age story and half heist flick, follows Mongon through his criminal education to his eventual arrest in 2004. Mongon ran a gang of dozens of teens who robbed freight trains and transport trucks for profits that ran up into the millions. Police never caught him, but when his girlfriend and mother were charged with money laundering, he turned himself over to authorities. New Line already had a working script with Chris Murphey, but Core will be pulling double duty overseeing a re-write of the story. Core seems to have a flair for biography, as he will also be at the helm for the biopic Liberty, an action- thriller about the winner of the 1946 Boston Marathon who fled the Nazi occupation of Greece. No casting announcements have been made for Conrail, but there should be plenty of spots up for grabs for those assorted Hollywood "It" boys.